Fri, June 27, 2008
WALL-E
Bear with me – this might be a challenging review to write. For one thing, I don't want to overdo it. The movie is spellbinding, but I won't do it (or you) any favors by resorting to my usual effusive Pixar gushing. Also, I can't give anything away. The movie isn't full of twists and surprises, but it's unusual enough that knowing less is better. I went in knowing nothing: since the teaser trailer at the start of Ratatouille, I've avoided almost all information about WALL-E. Maybe this explains the absolute wonder I experienced during the first half of the movie, and maybe it's just that good. Just in case, I don't want to spoil anything. I'm writing a review I would have willingly read yesterday. (And I wasn't even looking at headlines about WALL-E before I saw it.)
The first thing you'll notice about WALL-E is that it's unlike anything you've ever seen before. Especially from Pixar. Pay attention to the lighting, the pacing, and the camera angles in the early scenes. I admittedly watch Pixar's movies more attentively than anyone not on their payroll, but I think in this case the distinction is startling enough that everyone will feel it on some level. In a family movie, this style is unprecedented. It's a risky gamble: children are accustomed to bouncier, flashier fare like Madagascar 2 with bright colors and nonstop silliness. But Pixar has an ace in the hole: they are frickin' geniuses. Spend two minutes with WALL-E and you fall in love with him. Nobody else can bring across character in such simple, subtle strokes – few would be daring enough to try. Michael Bay forced the animators to put lips on Optimus Prime – WALL-E doesn't even have a face. (By the way, if you're like me and you thought the only redeeming part of Transformers was its intricate gadgets, WALL-E takes it to a whole new level.)
Younger viewers will certainly bond with WALL-E – whether they'll prefer WALL-E to Kung Fu Panda is another question, and I've learned not to hope for too much. It isn't easy, challenging audiences to expect more from their entertainment, but I'll take comfort in the fact that history will judge Pixar to be the winner. Twenty years from now, we'll see that computer animation was a fad, but while everyone else was cashing in on the flavor of the week, Pixar was doing something special. In fact, if WALL-E is as successful and acclaimed as it deserves to be, it just might change the way we make movies. Who wants to watch penguins surf (or – Jeebus – Chihuahuas) when you can see something like this?
But, like I said, I don't want to overdo it. The film does have normal elements. The characters are great, and the style and pace are unique, but past the halfway point the story feels less otherworldly and more like something you might have experienced before. In a way, it's a relief – like having a "pinch me" moment to confirm you haven't slipped into some parallel dimension where this is what movies are like. But if anyone's going to detract from WALL-E (aside from the cranky types who always want to knock Pixar down a peg), this might be why. The ending is clever and fun, and it complements the first half nicely, but it isn't as brain-meltingly astonishing. (I can live with that; it's hard to drive home with a fully melted brain.)
Ira Glass once said of They Might Be Giants, "I feel bad for them; if they want to hear this kind of music, they have to go and make it." I feel the same way about Pixar, not that they are complaining. Nobody else approaches filmmaking like this, and we're profoundly lucky they do. The summer movie is far from dead, but it could certainly use a little life breathed back into it. In Mary Shelley's day, that's exactly what it meant to "animate." Pixar has done it with a rusty little bag of bolts, why shouldn't they do it to the whole film industry?
Wait... did I overdo it?
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Bee Boy — Fri, 6/27/08 12:51pm
Thanks in advance for keeping the comments as spoiler-free as possible since some of our lazier readers may take their sweet time getting to a screening of WALL-E.
(After WALL-E is the place for all your spoilery discussion goodness.)
AC — Fri, 6/27/08 7:20pm
Working on it! The El Capitan's sold out till tomorrow night... Aieee!
Joe Mulder — Fri, 6/27/08 10:44pm
I noticed myself that the El Capitan was sold out, so Anna and I headed off to the Arclight Sherman Oaks this afternoon since Karen was working and I wasn't, and Karen seemed lukewarm about seeing WALL-E (I know!).
Plus I figured why spend the extra bucks at the El Capitan, since with Anna in tow I won't be able to enjoy it to its fullest.
But it was great, of course. Anna was pretty good; there was one fidgety moment where I had to take her out and walk her around for a second, so we missed a minute or two when they first arrive on the Axiom (not much of a spoiler, unless you've actually seen the movie, at which point spoilers are sort of moot).
So, it was great, and they even gave out a free WALL-E watch to everyone (it's a tiny digital watch inside of a blue "Livestrong" type of bracelet with the WALL-E lettering on it). So that was cool.
And then after the movie, we're filing out, we turn the corner into the lobby of the Arclight, and all of a sudden I literally pass by, shoulder-to-shoulder, none other than Mr. Jeff Garlin. No idea what he was doing there; it certainly wasn't any sort of promotional thing, since he was just standing against a wall off to the side; maybe they didn't have a premiere, or he missed it, and hadn't seen it yet. Anyway, I told him it was great and he said "thanks, thanks a lot."
Anyway. A nice moviegoing experience all around, I'd say.
Bee Boy — Fri, 6/27/08 11:07pm
Excellent! I'm glad you got to see it. (And him.) Thanks for congratulating Garlin on behalf of the rest of us. He really was fantastic.
All this "the El Capitan" business is reminding me of the "The La Trattoria" joke from Mickey Blue Eyes. Shame on you people for reminding me of Mickey Blue Eyes. (Though I do think back fondly on the "I thought you were doing a funny run" scene.)
Sorry about your wife. All along I had a sinking feeling that Duel issue wouldn't be the last we'd hear of her inexplicably wrongheaded taste in movies.
Bee Boy — Mon, 7/14/08 3:34pm
Ha ha! "The El Capitan" is shoulder-to-shoulder with "ATM machine" in Wikipedia's illustrative list of shameful, shameful pleonasms. Burn, you guys! Total burn!
(Thanks to T-Rex for pointing this out months ago, even though I'm just now catching up.)
Also, there is a whole entry for shm-reduplication, which is just about the cutest thing ever. Hospital Schmospital Dospital, people!
AC — Tue, 7/15/08 2:46am
This reminds me of college when you or Joe would use the term "spoonerism" on occasion. Every single time, I had to go look it up (I just did again!).
Ah, but T-Rex! Ever since the Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva edition, I've been hooked!
Funny aside– I was accused today by my boss of being a snooty English know-it-all when I identified his description of "those three dots at the end" as an ellipsis. He demanded that we drop what we were doing and do a poll of the staff to see if that was a commonly-known term. Luckily I won, but it could've gone either way.
Bee Boy — Tue, 7/15/08 10:31am
No! Anti-"elitism" run amok! Hide your daughters, people, it's going to get worse before it gets better. I'm glad you won ellipsis – these days I think you could go 50/50 with "semicolon" in most offices.
(I still think The Honey Buggers is a great name for a band.)